Offset smokers can be intimidating for some users. Offset Smokers are large, have two chambers, and some people are also unfamiliar with charcoal.
Don’t let the size and the dual chambers of these smokers discourage you. True, offset smokers are built to support even the most professional levels of BBQ smoking, but they can also be enjoyed by anyone. In this guide, we will teach how to use an offset charcoal smoker, but the principles can be applied to other offset smoker grills.
Start The Fire and Setup the Firebox
The first step is to start the fire in the firebox and get the smoker going. Many people fail to learn how to use an offset smoker properly because they fail to learn fire management and temperature control. Others buy bad-quality and hard-to-use smokers. This is an article to help you find a good smoker if you are in the market for one.
Start the Fire
Open all the air intake vents and the lid of the smoker. During the ignition process, we want as much air and oxygen flowing through the smoker as possible. Remember, fire likes oxygen, and yeap, you guessed it, the air has plenty of it.
Make your life easier and ensure the main intake vent in your smoker is clean and clear of any old ash and debris.
Load the firebox with your favorite charcoal or wood. Most people will use a combination of wood and charcoal, but if you are primarily using charcoal as your fuel source, I recommend adding the smoking wood chunks once the smoker is ready to cool. This way, you do not waste your wood chunks.
Don’t use lighter fluid or chemical starters to start the fire in the firebox; besides avoiding a giant fireball, you do not want that chemical taste on your food.
There are good ways to start charcoal and natural fire starters to help you get a fire started quickly.
Setup the Firebox
Like any charcoal grill, Offset smokers need a healthy fire to produce good heat and smoke, moving through the cooking chamber. To ensure the cooking chamber is getting all the heat and smoke it needs to cook delish food, you need to set up the firebox well.
Too much oxygen will light up a fire in the firebox.
Let the charcoal light up fully. One mistake people make is thinking the charcoal is ready because they see fire flames sneaking through the coals. This is a mistake, and if you start cooking at this stage, your food will get a lot of dirty smoke.
Instead, wait until the charcoal has a nice white cap and the smoke has a white tint to it, or you start seeing greyish ash at the top of the charcoal.
Remember that offset smokers have two different chambers one chamber is the firebox, and the other is your cooking area. Right now, we are focusing on the firebox. We want to make sure the fire in the firebox is healthy, set right, and ready to cook.
We will talk later more about the other air vents on the offset smoker, but now, we are trying to set up a good and healthy fire to power the smoker. Later we will use other air vents throughout the main cooking chamber to control airflow in the cooking chamber and control smoke.
We will revisit the firebox before putting the food in our smoker and deal with temperature control, but next, we will set up the cooking chamber.
Setup the Cooking Chamber of Your Offset Smoker Properly
The cooking chamber is where the magic happens. You want to spend some time getting your cooking chamber ready to make sure everything goes smooth for the next few hours. Offset smokers have large chambers and are perfect for large cookouts.
Set the grates
By now, you should have a healthy fire going, and your firebox should be ready to go. It’s time to smoke meat. Try to keep your grill grate as clean as possible. This is the wrong time to worry about dirty grates, but if you need to clean the grates in your smoker, here is how.
The first thing we want to do is set the grate level. Changing a grill grate level or height is complicated and sometimes impossible once the smoker gets too hot and food is in the grill. I have seen people do this during the cook, and I have also seen a rack of ribs on the floor.
The point here is, do all your prep work ahead of time and spend just a little bit of time setting your cooking chamber.
Using an offset smoker can be very rewarding. The indirect heat and smoke is a perfect formula for great smoky flavor and tender meats.
Preheating the smoker
Now that the cooking chamber is set and ready to receive your next master culinary creation, we need to preheat the smoker. Preheating the smoker consists of increasing the internal temperature of the offset smoker to a temperature higher than smoking temps.
Close the lid, let the smoker get to about 300 to 350 degrees, keep the fire going and let it sit there for 15 minutes.
Preheating the smoker will get the entire smoker to working temperatures and even help burn things we don’t want on our food.
Once your offset smoker is preheated, close the air vents to reduce the fire and airflow and get the smoker to smoking temperatures.
Insert your water pan
Close the lid and set the proper internal smoking temperatures, ranging from 200 to 250 degrees, depending on what you are cooking.
Let the offset smoker get to lower temperatures before placing the water pan in the smoker. If you add a water pan during the preheating process, you can damage the water pan and also, well, boil all the water.
Wait until the temperature is low enough to add the water pan.
Setup The Offset Smoker For Smoking
Now we get to the good stuff. Now that your grates are set, and the water pan is in, we can set the smoker for cooking.
Set the cooking temperature
Now is the time to set the desired temperature. You offset smoker preheated, grates are placed, the water pan is in, and we have a healthy fire going. All we know have to do is control the temperature and bring the smoker to the cooking temperature.
This is the temperature where the offset smoker will remain for hours.
Close the cooking chamber lid, adjust the air vents until the fire dies down, and monitor the internal temperature in the smoker. Make sure you are constantly monitoring the temperature and keeping an eye on the fire.
You want to slow down the smoker but not let the fire shut off. Leave some of the vents open to ensure there is always a tiny amount of air flowing through the smoker.
Don’t completely close the chimney cap. Let the chimney vent slightly opened to let any dirty smoke out, plus this will help keep air flowing through the smoker.
Fire management is a skill you will learn as you cook more often with your offset smoker.
Check the temperature one more time and wait a couple of minutes to ensure the temperature stays steady. Adjust air vents as needed until the temperature remains stable.
Add wood Chips or Chunks
After setting all the air vents to cooking positions, your fire is stable, and you have a nice fire going. It is time to add the wood chips or wood chunks. I’d like to add the smoking would last because I don’t want to waste it.
Adding woo chips to your offset smoker during the starting process or while preheating the smoker will just burn the wood. I like to wait until the offset smoker is ready to then add wood.
Let’s Smoke some Meat
Now that the smoker is set and ready, you want to monitor the temperature and ensure white smoke is coming out of the chimney.
Open the lid of the cooking chamber and let it rip! Set the food inside the cooking chamber, then grab your favorite beer and enjoy!
Now that you know how to use your offset smoker, here are some smoked recipes and tips you can try.
